The parent club Detroit Red Wings assigned seven players to
the Griffins on Thursday afternoon: defensemen Travis Ehrhardt, Sergei Kolosov
and Sebastien Piche; and forwards Jamie Tardif and Tomas Tatar. Forwards
Francis Lemieux and John Vigilante also were released from their professional
tryouts with the Red Wings and will join the Griffins on American Hockey League
contracts.

The Griffins also will hold their first practice in Grand
Rapids at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Griff’s IceHouse. They spent this past week
practicing with the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

More players will be assigned to Grand Rapids as the Red
Wings wind down their preseason schedule before heading to Sweden.

Tatar, 18 and the 60th
overall pick in this year’s NHL draft, made a strong impression with the Red
Wings in training camp.

The left wing played his first pro season in Slovakia
last season, and had seven goals and eight assists in 48 games for Zvolen. He
also led Slovakia’s fourth-place World Junior Championship team with seven
goals and four assists in seven games.

Piche, 21, earned
second-team all-star honors in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last
season with 23 goals and 72 points in 62 games for Rimouski. He signed with the
Red Wings as a free agent in March.

Kolosov, Lemieux and Tardif spent last season with the
Griffins, while Ehrhardt and Vigilante were signed by Detroit and Grand Rapids,
respectively, this past offseason.